He has shown you, oh man, what is good and what the Lord requires of you: to walk justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.Micah 6:8

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Tears

On Friday, we went to one of my favorite schools: Nino Jesus China. We call it "China" because there are 3 other Nino Jesus's: Nino Jesus Conovi (Conovi is the neighboorhood), Nino Jesus Pie (foot, because the director stomped on Benji's foot when he didn't greet her properly) and Nino Jesus Luz, becuase they didn't have any light/electricity for a long time. I named Nino Jesus China because I thought the Taiwan flag was Chinese and because it's so far away it might as well be in China. OK big tangent. The point is, I love this humble school. And the director loves her school too. After we did our presentation, she came up to us with tears in our eyes, to tell us her pain and struggles as the director of this school. The kids are very poor. Many don't come to school with any food. Many sell little candies to make money for their families. One family has twin little girls. One girl gets up at 4:00 in the morning to organize the sales for the day. That girl gets to go to school. The other sells candies on the street. The next day they switch. They told the school that they were one girl. Other kids come to school in a canoe because another school has kicked them out. On their way, they cut down plants that grow by the river, and sell them for tiny amounts of money. Some days, their boat flips, and they come to school soaked. Another kid had cuts all over his face, and the director told us that he was kicked by a horse. He washes horses: $1 per horse. He looked about 10 years old. Kids come to school smelly and dirty and hungry; but their teachers give them love. One teacher walks an hour to school because she doesn't have enough money for the bus (50 cents). Many schools in Limpio are recieving bread and milk from the government, but, even though the director is fighting and fighting, the truck doesn't want to come out to "China". Pray for Nino Jesus China; that the kids will get enough food to fill their bellies, and be taken care of by their parents.